Nelson woke up on Sunday morning
with oddest itchy feeling in his ears. He stuck a pinkie finger in his ear,
burrowed around a bit and tried to alleviate the feeling that way. It
wasn't working, with either ear, the itchiness continued and he decided to get
up, hit the can, and try a couple of cotton swabs. God, this is irritating.
He threw on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and went into the bathroom. He opened
up the medicine cabinet, found the swabs, and dug around in his ears. It helped
a little, but not a lot. He yawned, scratched and looked at himself in the mirror.
I could use a couple more hours of sleep, I still feel really tired. Dad
or Aunt Sara will be around, they can get me up later. He went back into
his bedroom, shut the door, and in moments, he fell back to sleep.

Out on the couch, Sara began
to wake up. Something's different. I've been on this couch dozens of times
overnight, but this morning, it feels smaller. And I'm practically falling off
the edge. The couch used to be so much ... wider. And not this ... warm.
"Snrrkk". She smiled. And not nearly this noisy. She felt
the small form of Chloe spooned perfectly behind her, with her nose buried between
Sara's shoulder blades. "Sssnrrrk." Funny, I don't remember that snore from
the last time we slept on this couch. Sara carefully lifted the arm that
was wrapped around her waist, and turned by inches until she was laying on her
back. She eased an arm under Chloe's head, and Chloe stirred, made a couple
of awkward movements towards Sara, until she found a comfortable niche on Sara's
shoulder and snnrked her contentment and rewrapped herself around her, this
time finding a conveniently placed breast to clutch. She definitely is a
breast woman. She seems to gravitate towards them, not that I mind.
Sara's mind turned to the other night when Chloe's hands had been quite lustily
occupied with them, and she felt a lovely bit of arousal as she remembered that,
and looked down at the small hand that was covering its prize now. She's
going to make me crazy if she keeps doing that. Of course, she makes me crazy
just walking across a room, or shuffling cards like a three year old. Chloe
made another small 'snrrping' sound, and Sara looked at the redhead on her chest.
Look at that wasps' nest of hair, what a mess. Definite bed head.
Chloe's redblonde hair was shaggier looking than usual, like she had been picked
up by a small tornado and then deposited on Sara's shoulder. She reached with
her free hand, and brushed some of the hair out of Chloe's eyes. She's so
warm, so very warm. Sara frowned. Too warm. Sara put her hand on
Chloe's forehead, then on her neck behind her jaw line. Hot. Damn.

"Chloe? Honey, wake up." Sara
shook her a little bit, and then put her lips to her forehead in a lingering
kiss, half affection, half checking for temperature. Really hot.
"Chloe, wake up, I think something's ... not right." No one should be woken
up with the words 'I think something's wrong' unless a barn is burning down
or something. Chloe stirred a little, and her hand did that lovely reflexive
squeezing action to Sara's breast. I like the way this woman wakes up. If
she wakes up this slowly every day, and does the same thing each time, I could
really look forward to mornings. "Chloe, sweetheart, you need to wake up."
Chloe's eyes slowly opened, and Sara could see a flicker of awareness come to
her. She smiled a little, looked at Sara. "Good morning, Chloe. Did you sleep
well?" Chloe's eyes closed again, the smile remained, and just when Sara
thought that Chloe had dropped off again, there was another, more deliberate
squeeze to Sara's breast, and her index finger lightly traced a circle around
the center of it. Oh yeah, she's awake, all right. Eyes still closed,
Chloe's hand traveled spider-like down to the bottom of Sara's T-shirt, and
slowly began to tug it upwards. Sara watched its progress without moving. She
glanced out of the corner of her eye, and saw that Chloe now had her eyes open,
and was looking at each inch of flesh that was being exposed. Just as her hand,
easing up the material so deliberately , so tortuously, was about to unveil
an area of vital importance to them both, her hand stopped, lifted and Chloe
put it over her own face instead.

"KATCHOO!" Chloe's hand
remained in front of her nose, and she tilted it out just a bit to take a peek.
"Ewww."

Sara's free arm quickly reached
behind her to the end table to find the tissue box that was sitting there. She
plucked a few out and handed them to Chloe.

"God bless you." she smiled,
and watched as Chloe sheepishly wiped her nose, and then her hand. "Need a couple
more?"

Chloe nodded her assent, and
gratefully accepted more tissues, and then cleared her throat. "Whoa, I think
I lost a couple hundred brain cells on that one." Her voice sounded a little
high, and deep at the same time. She lifted away from Sara's shoulder, and blew
a mighty honk into another tissue.

Now that Chloe was a little farther
away, Sara could take a good look at her, and didn't like what she saw. "Uh
huh. I thought you felt a little too warm, and your eyes are all red and
watery. And your voice sounds a lot like Debra Winger's did at the end of
'Terms of Endearment' ... you know, her dying scenes." She watched as
Chloe felt her own forehead, and then the glands at the front of her neck, and
then saw the telltale frown of discovery. "Not feeling your best, are
you?"

Chloe tried to sit the rest of
the way up, but was a little tangled up in Sara's limbs. Sara disengaged, sat
up, and helped Chloe to do the same. She handed Chloe the tissue box and
watched her as she did a little stretching and shaking out of her limbs.

Chloe, looking as bad as she
felt, croaked, "Do I look as bad as I feel?" She saw the look of sympathy
on Sara's face. "I must look really terrible, because ... whoa, that's how I'm
feeling." She took a few more tissues out and blew her nose again. She
watched as Sara stood up from the couch. "And here I was, feeling all ... frisky
and all, what with waking up with such a beautiful, wicked woman whose butt
I kicked at cards last night." Chloe smiled up at her, and then winced
at the pain that sentence brought to her throat. "Damn it all to hell, anyways",
she rasped miserably.

Sara laid a cool palm on her
cheek. "Yeah, just my luck. I finally get you where I want you, and then you
get all terminal on me." She saw that her little joke didn't appear to
make Chloe feel better. "Listen, you just lay yourself back down on the couch.
I'm going to get you a cup of tea or something ... "

"I think I have to make a pit
stop first. Thanks, tea sounds good." It feels like somebody
sandpapered my throat last night.

She tottered off to the bathroom,
while Sara went into the kitchen to rustle up something for her little patient.
I'm so lousy at this. I hate it when I'm sick, and I know I'm supposed to
be helpful and caring when someone else is sick. But all I know to do is make
tea and ... I dunno ... pet her or something?

"Hey.", a gravely voice said
from the kitchen doorway. Nelson was standing there, looking pale and red-eyed
himself. "Is that Chloe in the bathroom?"

"Oh, not you, too. Let me guess,
you're sick, right? So is Chloe." Sara said, a little impatiently. When
she saw the defeated expression on Nelson's face, she regretted her tone of
voice. "Aw, Nels, I'm sorry. Listen, I'll make you a cup of tea ... I
don't know what else ..." Fluids, that's right, fluids. She walked
over, and felt his forehead, it was hot. "Yup, we've got to get some fluids
into you. And toast or something. Feed a something, starve a something. Sorry,
I can never remember which is which."

"Not hungry. Just got up to get
something to drink and go to the bathroom. I want to go back to bed."
He leaned up against the archway, looking like he would be satisfied to sleep
right there.

"Bathroom's free." Chloe
appeared in the kitchen doorway, and looked up and recognized a kindred soul.
"Two sick puppies are we, huh, Nelson?"

Nelson rubbed the back of his
hand across his eyes. "Guess they should just put us down. Euthanasia sounds
good right about now. Maybe Aunt Sara would ...."

Sara sighed. "Give me a few hours
to get to that point first. Normally, sick people make me want to kill
myself, not the other way around."

Chloe's eyes seemed to look even
more watery at that comment. "I need to get home and into my own bed.
I don't want to be any trouble."

Sara immediately went to her
and took her into her arms. "Aw, Chloe, I'm sorry. I just am not very good at
dealing with... illness. You stay here, we'll put you on the couch for
a while. " Jeez, can I be more of a jerk? "C'mon, what're
you going to do at your house all alone? Let me take care of you, huh?"
She felt Chloe relax a little in her arms, and Chloe wiped her nose a little
on Sara's sleeve.

Sara pulled away a little, and
grinned down at the weepy wet eyes of the adorable librarian. "I love high maintenance
women, I thought I told you that?" She watched as Chloe pulled another tissue
out of her shorts pocket and gave a huge blow. "I wish I could take you home
and take care of you there, maybe when Dave gets back, so he can look after
Nelson."

Nelson was dumbly staring into
space. When he heard his name, he looked at the two women hugging and got a
little tired grin. "Bathroom for me. Bed. Yeah, fluids." He was just turning
to walk off when he stopped, and said to Sara, pleadingly, "Do you think you
could call Charlie Shemp and tell him I, well, we won't be over today?"

Sara nodded over Chloe's head.
"Yeah, I'll call. You go get back to bed. I'll bring in some tea to you in your
bedroom. I'm ... " She looked down at Chloe, still dressed in yesterday's
clothes, " ... gonna get your Aunt Chloe here some different, warmer clothes
to throw on." She smiled at Nelson, and went in search of the promised clothes.

Nelson and Chloe's bloodshot
eyes slowly met, and they both mouthed to each other in silent unison, "Aunt
Chloe??"

Dave looked at the peacefully
sleeping form of Marcy, buried underneath the covers. Finally, maybe now
she can get some rest. He quietly got out of the bed, and in his boxers
and T-shirt, walked out to the kitchen and dialed home.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sara. How's it going?"
He didn't wait for her to answer. "Marcy's down for the count. She was sicker
than a dog this morning. I'm going to stay here and ..."

Sara moaned and interrupted him.
"Sounds like we need to open up an infirmary. Both Chloe and Nelson have
fevers, and sore throats, you know, the works. Nelson went back to bed, and
Chloe's asleep on the couch. I was hoping that you would be able to ..."
Stupid me with no driver's license.

"Well, she just got to sleep,
so I'm out of here. See you soon, and Sara?" Dave knew his sister's
little inadequacies all too well. "I know that you're not exactly the Flo Nightingale
type. Buck up, babe."

"Let's see, we have, for your
enjoyment, a wide variety of soup products of the chicken persuasion."
Sara was standing in the kitchen archway, looking at the multitude of products
that Dave had picked up, then dropped off with barely a greeting, in his haste
to get back to an ill Marcy. He had promised to call later. Sara had unloaded
the bags, and happily, had found some chocolate, so that was going to make her
stint as primary caregiver a little easier on her psyche.

She called out to the fevered,
but awake form of Chloe on the couch, now dressed in T-shirt and sweats. "We've
got ... chicken and stars, chicken noodle, chunky chicken noodle, chicken with
kluski noodles ... chicken and rice, chicken vegetable, cream of chicken ...ew,
that always seems to gag me, I think of ... chicken in a blender?" She
noted the smile that brought to her sick friend. "Well, does any of that sound
appealing to you?" She watched as Chloe wiped a hand across her brow,
and wiped her nose again with the now ever present tissue that she had clutched
in her hand.

Chloe cleared her throat a little,
and said huskily. "I don't know, how about something ... with chicken?
Surprise me." She wiped her eyes with a new tissue, and tossed the old
one in a wastebasket that Sara had provided her next to the couch. "You sound
like that guy from 'Forrest Gump' ... you know, the shrimp guy ... except with
chicken this time." I hate being sick. I have too much to do. I think I'm
dying. I should go home. I don't want to be there by myself. I gotta call off
work for tomorrow, I think I have strep. "Sara?" She saw Sara come
back into the archway. "I probably should just go home while I still have the
strength. I think I'm going to get worse before I get better." she said,
her voice craggy and worn.

Sara gave her what must have
been her one hundredth sympathetic look of the afternoon. "Listen, sicky, let
me shove some soup down you, and then we can talk about ... your last will and
testament. You just lay there and relax, and ... try not to miss the wastebasket
anymore."

Chloe looked down to see she
had missed it quite a bit, and quickly scooped them off the floor and into the
can. "Oops.", she croaked, and saw Sara just smile and shake her head as she
headed back into the kitchen. She's being so good. I wish I could talk better,
or felt better. I just feel like a lump here, she could be doing things, instead
of fussing over me. Although it's been a long time since anyone has fussed over
me. It feels ... good. She closed her eyes, and the next time she
opened them, Sara was depositing a tray on the coffee table with a large
mug of soup and crackers.

"I brought you some juice too
... gotta keep your fluids up. That's the extent of my medical knowledge. Fluids.
Rest. Chicken soup." Chloe sat up a little, and grabbed the mug off the
tray, and stirred it around to cool it off. Sara lifted Chloe's feet, sat down,
and settled her feet back onto her lap. "And maybe a foot rub?"

Chloe blew on her soup, which
was still too hot to eat. "Oh, just sell my clothes, I'm going to heaven ..."
she sighed, as Sara pushed her thumbs into the arch of her foot and started
a luxurious massage.

Sara grinned. "You enjoy. I'm
going to talk, you eat. Here's what I'm thinking." She smiled as
she watched Chloe's eyes close, and head waver back and forth in pleasure to
the pressure that Sara was applying to her foot. "I'm thinking you are going
to stay here again tonight." She saw Chloe's eyes open at that, and look at
her curiously. "You can either stay on the couch, or I can make up Dave's bed
for you, and you can sack out there. I would take you over to my place, but
I'm pretty sure that he's planning on staying over at Marcy's tonight, and I'd
like to stick around here for Nelson. He's been in and out of that bathroom
at least 5 times in the last 3 hours. So he must be having some sort of ...
intestinal upset ..." Sara's nose crinkled, and then she continued. "Maybe he
ate a pizza box ... but anyway ..." she grabbed a toe and gently twisted it,
"You're not planning on going to work tomorrow, right?" Chloe, caught
up in the foot massage, the warm soup and the soothing tones of Sara's voice,
simply shook her head 'no'. "I didn't think so. So what do you think,
you think you can maybe hang out with me here for a couple of days?"

Chloe busted up a handful of
saltines and dropped them into her soup. She opened her mouth to pop her stuffed
ears, then said, worriedly, "Well, that sounds nice, but I'm afraid I'll just
get you sick. I mean, we can't afford to have the whole team down."

Sara sat up straighter, and switched
her attention to Chloe's other foot. She winked at her, and said, "I never
get sick. Well, very rarely, and then it's for 10 minutes or so, and then ...
voila ... perfecto again." When she saw Chloe's doubtful gaze, she said, "Really,
you can ask my mom. It must be in my genes. I never missed school ...
for sickness, that is ... just, you know, skipping ..."

Chloe finished off her last spoonful
and set her cup down. She swished some juice around to clear the food out of
her teeth, and blew her nose several times in succession. She made a deliberate
display of hitting the wastebasket this time with the dirty tissues. She
sighed, then sighed again, as Sara waited for her decision. She sniffed a little,
and said, hesitatingly, "Well, if you're sure I wouldn't be too much trouble
..." Her answer was rewarded with Sara grinning a delighted smile and renewed
vigorous attention to her foot.

"You're trouble, but I like trouble."
Sara chuckled.

Nelson was dreaming the twisted
dreams of a fevered, flu battered, mentally conflicted young man. Familiar figures
in unfamiliar situations were flitting in his subconscious mind, and his synapses
were sputtering like an old lawn mower in tall grass.

In his dream, he was standing,
at an altar, in a small church, next to his dad. They were both in suits, and
looking down an aisle. His dad kept nervously smiling at him, and straightening
his tie. An organist, unseen, was playing 'Poor Jud is Daid'. Nelson was
so fascinated with the surroundings, he nearly didn't notice his Aunt Sara coming
out and standing on the other side of the raised platform. She was nearly
upon them when he saw her, but when he did, his mouth dropped open in confusion.

She was dressed in a blue jeans
and cowboy boots, with ornate leather chaps over her long legs. A six gun and
holster were at her waist, and as Nelson's eyes traveled upwards, he saw she
was wearing light blue silk cowboy shirt replete with white fringe, her long
dark hair was loose, and as he met her smiling eyes, he saw that they were shadowed
by the brim of the white stetson she was wearing low over her forehead. She
winked at him, and took a place at the other side of the altar. Her gaze
broke from him, and she turned, with the rest of the assembled folk at the altar,
to look towards the back of the church once again.

Doris Raeburn, dressed in what
looked like a graduation gown, appeared from the side of the church, and came
and stood, waiting, between Sara and Dave. She smiled at both Dave and
Nelson, and turned her attention to the back of the church. The pews of the
church, Nelson noted, were filled with faces, some he recognized, most he didn't.
As he tried to ascertain who some of the pew dwellers were, all the heads in
the pews turned and looked towards the back of the church. There at the end
of the long aisle was Jeanette, in her cheerleader outfit, and she began a slow,
cadenced walk up the aisle towards them, to the organist's somewhat jazzy rendering
of 'Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'. She smiled a nervous smile at Nelson,
who returned the smile, but his eyes were drawn to her bouquet as she neared
them. It seemed to be made of an assortment of kleenex, pompom tassels,
and odd white flowers that seemed to resemble the shape and size of ... golf
balls. She stopped and stood just to the left of Sara, who tapped her hat brim
in greeting.

Officious organ chords struck
, and then a rather sexily swaggering version of "I'm Just a Girl Who Cain't
Say No" began intoning through the building. The church was packed with
people Nelson couldn't quite recognize, and they all stood up as the bride began
her solo waltz up the aisle. It seemed to Nelson, that waltzing was exactly
what the bride, Chloe Donahue, was doing. She had on a white gown, lacy,
with veil, and instead of a bouquet, there was some sort of book in her hands.
As she sashayed slowly up the aisle, the words to the song came into Nelson's
head, and he found himself singing them aloud, and then, he saw his grinning
Aunt Sara join in, and their voices lifted into a strong, clear duet as a beaming
Chloe made her way up the aisle towards them.

When a person tries to
kiss a girl,
I know she orta give their face a smack.
But as soon as someone kisses me,
I somehow, sorta, wanta kiss 'em back!

I'm jist a fool when lights are
low
I cain't be prissy and quaint
I ain't the type that can faint
How c'n I be whut I ain't?'

And just as Chloe was beginning
to ascend the three short steps up to the altar, Nelson noticed the large telltale
bulge extending from Chloe's satin covered abdomen, and when his mind comprehended
her 'condition', he abruptly stopped his singing, leaving his Aunt Sara to finish
the song all alone.

'I cain't ... say ... no!'

Chloe did a quick little twirl,
and stood between his Dad and Aunt Sara, giving a small, sparkling grin to both
of them, as they did they same in return. Nelson stood closer to the right of
his dad, and heard the congregation settle into their seats behind them.

Doris Raeburn opened the thin
white booklet in her hands, and began speaking, sounding oddly like her voice
was coming out over a P.A. system.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered
here today to join these people in holy matrimony. As is befitting a solemn
and sacred ceremony such as this, we will begin with a reading in unison.
Will everyone please open their scripts to page 37, Act Two, Scene
One? And please, no accents. Not a one of you, I know, was born
in the South, so any budding Blanche DuBois' out there, just suppress your south
of the Mason-Dixon line tendencies for the duration of these proceedings. And
Chloe, quit slouching. May we begin?"

As Doris and the throng behind
him began a toneless incantation of some bit of unrecognizable dialogue, Nelson
shifted uneasily on his feet, trying to catch the expressions on first his dad,
then his Aunt Sara, and finally, Chloe. He noticed the three of them sneaking
grins at each other.

The reading stopped, and Doris
Raeburn began addressing them anew.

"Since the early time of women
and men on this earth, it has been traditional for ... couples ... to make a
public declaration of their love and commitment to each other. That's
why we are gathered here today. But I digress." She cast a stern eye towards
Sara. "Funny you coming out in public. 'Coming out'. Well, you've always
been a trouble maker, and still seem to be that way. But if Chloe here, wants
to put up with that, who am I to say different? I mean, was this really necessary?
Couldn't you have maybe carried on with her in private? ... this is
a small town ... "

Nelson heard both his father
and Chloe give a spontaneous 'harrumph' to break into Doris' little diatribe.
Doris blinked, and huffily smoothed out the front of the blue graduation gown
she was wearing. She recovered, and went on.

"We are gathered here today to
join this man," and she nodded towards Dave, "and this woman," and she looked
at Chloe, "and," she settled her eyes on the resolutely unflinching Sara again,
"this woman in matrimony. Before we go any further, is there anyone ... anyone
out there who objects to this union?"

Nelson's eyes followed the motion
of his Aunt, Dad, Chloe, and Doris' heads as they turned towards the alcove
where the organ was. He noticed a top of a head, just barely visible,
with auburn curls on it, raise a little. Marcy.

Mrs. Raeburn's voice then was
pitched ominously in that direction, too. "ANYONE?"

Marcy stood up just a little
and hesitantly gave a little embarrassed wave. "S'OK by me!" she chirped, and
then, as an afterthought, she said, "I broke up with him!" and
then sat back down on the organ bench.

Doris cleared her throat and
turned her attention back to the couple, or couples, before her. "Alright then.
Where was I?" She fumbled with her white book, and found her place. "We
are gathered here, oh wait, I said that already, let's see ... nobody
objects, although I guess I can't ask me that, now can I? Nobody
objects, so then we go on to ... the vows. " She sniffed her nose, and began
with Sara.

"Do you, Sara, take this woman,
Chloe, to be your ... can't say 'lawfully wedded', this is Pennsylvania, not
Vermont. for god's sakes, although really, is it legal there yet? Unions
maybe, I'm not sure marriages. I'm no lawyer. Do you Sara, take this woman,
Chloe, to be your bride?"

Sara saw Doris' mouth had stopped
moving, so she went for it. "Yeah." she drawled. She and Chloe exchanged sincere,
loving glances.

Doris then looked to Dave. "Do
you, David, take this woman, Chloe, as your lawfully wedded ... and I think
that I can say that ... lawfully, here, in this instance, because, really, you're
marrying Chloe, not your sister, which I am pretty sure isn't legal in any state,
anywhere ... not that there aren't a lot of West Virginia jokes in circulation
regarding that very subject ... bride?"

Dave appeared to be nearly as
astute as his sister; he seemed to be watching for the cessation of Doris' mouth
movement. "Yes." he rumbled.

The slightly blushing bride became
the center of Doris' attention. "And now, you, Chloe, our little pregnant town
librarian. Never again will anyone in this town associate the term 'librarian'
with the words 'shy and retiring'. Hmmm? Still waters do run deep
in you, don't they, dear? You're positively a whirlpool of wild inconsistencies
..." Doris quipped, once again not waiting for an answer to her question.
"Do you take this man ... and his sister ... as your husband and wife, respectively?
Relatively? I want you to think about this, we all know how ... addle
brained you can be. Stubborn, even. I mean, what are you
thinking? Do you know what you're getting yourself into here? Have
you talked to a reputable therapist? Don't slouch, this is your
wedding for god's sakes, try to stand up straight. It's better for the
baby, good posture starts in the womb. Never can start too soon, can we?"

Doris sniffed her nose again,
and before Chloe could get an answer out, she said, "And while I think of it,
what about Nelson here, Chloe? My mind reels ... you would be his step-mom,
and his semi- Aunt sort of an Uncle at the same time, wouldn't you? And
the baby would be his ... niece ... nephew ... do you know the sex yet? ...
stepbrother ... or sister ... ? And although I heard from a reliable
source that you denied being 'bi', couldn't you, can't you make up your
mind or something? Couldn't flip a coin? " Doris finally took notice
of the small frown that was forming on Chloe's face, and her voice softened.
"Do you ... uh, Chloe ..." Doris fumbled with the page in front of her, for
she had completely lost her place. " Uh ... do you, Chloe ... remember the question?"

Chloe sighed. "I'll say." she
smiled.

Doris raised her shoulders in
a gesture of conciliation and defeat. "All right then. I pronounce the
three of you ... hitched." She crinkled her brow on her softly lined face.
"I guess you can take turns kissing the bride."

"What?" questioned Chloe,
who had just gotten off of the phone, having made arrangements for someone to
fill in at the library for her for the next few days. "Is Nelson alright?"

"I just checked on him.
He's still sleeping. But it was the weirdest thing, he was ... singing ...
in his sleep ... sounded a lot like 'I Cain't Say No'." Sara rolled
her eyes, and flopped down in the recliner.

"Figures, he's rehearsing the
wrong parts in his dreams." Chloe was sucking on another honey-lemon throat
lozenger. "You should probably wake him up and make him eat something."

"Next time he makes a trip to
the bathroom, I'll intercept him and make him take on some fluids and food."
Sara turned in the recliner, and draped her legs over the arm of it, so she
had a better view of Chloe on the couch. "Did you talk to Dave, too?"

"Actually, I talked to Marcy.
Dave is staying there tonight. She sounds pretty good, other than her
stomach is revolting like crazy. She says she feels queasy, otherwise,
no sign of a cold or anything. Sounds like the three of us have all different
combinations of this thing." She scrunched her face up. "I'm glad I don't
have the stomach gurgles part. This is bad enough." She blew her nose again
in demonstration.

"So, you called off for the next
couple of days?", asked Sara, a little hopefully.

"Yeah. No problem. The county
has a floater librarian for situations like this. So it looks like I can suffer
in peace." You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Sara.

Sara quirked a little grin at
her. "I'm sorry, Chloe, I may sound like a sadist here, but I'm just a little
glad that you're sick." She saw the doubtful look on Chloe's face. "I get to
spend time with you. I'd prefer that you were feeling good, and didn't have
a ton of snot in you, but I like ... having you around." She saw that
Chloe's already quite red and watery eyes seemed to get even more so at that
statement, and the pleased, shy smile that appeared. "I made up the bed in Dave's
room. He won't mind if you ... we ... sack out in there tonight."
She watched Chloe for her reaction.

Chloe coughed into a tissue.
"Are you sure I won't infect you? You really want to hear me hacking all
night?"

Sara looked directly into her
red-rimmed eyes. "No, I don't want to hear you hacking all night." She paused.
"I want to hold you all night." Even with that red nose, seeping eyes,
and rat's nest hair, you are the sexiest woman on the planet.

Chloe's heart beat double time,
and she grinned, then put on a false air of defeat. "Well, if you insist, I
mean, if it would make you feel better." It's gotta be good medicine
for me.

"Oh, I see, you're concerned
with my well-being. Well, yes, I'm sure it would make me feel so
much better ..." Sara cocked her head. "It sounds like Nelson is up and
around. I'm going to go check on him before he sneaks back to bed." She
got up from her chair, and stood over Chloe, and gently ran her fingers through
her bangs. "Why don't you try and get some rest? I'm going to heat up
some more chicken soup, I'll wake you and force you to eat it in a while.
Gotta get some into that growing boy, too."

Chloe's eyes closed at the soothing
feel of Sara's fingertips. " 'K. I can do that."

Sara bent and replaced her fingertips
with a small kisses. "See you in a bit."

Nelson was still feeling a bit
woozy, as he made room on his night stand for the tray that had held his first
food of the day. He had dutifully downed the soup that his Aunt had provided,
and sucked up a large glass of juice. He was staring moodily at his Cleveland
Browns poster over his chest of drawers when Sara stuck her head into his room,
and grinned at him.

"Eat it all up, like a good boy?"
she said, crossing into the room and pulling out the desk chair to sit down.
"Want any more? How're you feeling?"

Nelson knew exactly how what
the cat dragged in felt like. "Rotten. No, no more." He rubbed his eyes
and gave her a weak smile. "I can't believe I slept all day." It was after
7 now, Sunday night, and except for his digestive system waking him and insisting
on making hurried journeys to the bathroom, he had slept the day away.

Sara propped her feet up on the
edge of his bed smiled sympathetically. "Well, you're a good, non-bothersome
patient. You and Chloe, both. She's out there now, snoozing, chest rattling,
nose running, eyes watering. Pretty damned cute for a sick girl." She
watched as Nelson nodded, closed his eyes and sighed, pulling his blankets up
tighter around his chin. "Your dad is over at Marcy's; she's been sick all day,
too. Mostly potty stops for her. If you all didn't have different variations
on this thing, I would be calling up a shyster lawyer and blaming it all on
Buddy's Pizza Place."

Nelson was content to keep his
eyes closed. He didn't feel like sleeping anymore, besides, some of those dreams
he had been experiencing were nagging at the back of his mind. Nagging him so
much that he had to find some answers.

"'Aunt Sara, um, have you ever
had a 'bi' girlfriend?" Nelson coughed, he couldn't believe that sentence actually
made it to his mouth. This is bothering me.

Sara blinked at a question that
seemed to have come far, far, far, out of left field. What is this?
She looked at Nelson, his eyes still shut, and decided to give him a straightforward
answer to his weirdly timed question. "Nels, I haven't had, what you would call,
too many girlfriends of any length of time in my lifetime as yet." That's
going to change, with Chloe. "But, yes, I've dated, here and there, women
who have identified themselves as bisexual." She pursed her lips. "Something
in particular you want to know about them, or is it the 'bisexuality' thing
that you're curious about?" What the heck?

Nelson sighed. He couldn't tell
her what Justin, Heather and Jeanette were saying about Chloe and his dad. He
had to find another way to understand this, and when he opened his eyes to sneak
a peek at his aunt, he saw that she was looking at him, waiting for his answer,
a patient blank mask on her face.

He decided to deflect attention
away from what he was really trying to ask, and center it on himself instead.
"Well, I've been thinking, you know, I've got a girlfriend now, and ..."
Nelson shut his eyes again, so he could hide from his aunt's all too inquisitive
stare. Where do I go from here? OK, I'll lie. "But one of the guys at
school, in the play, he's been ..." Nelson took a deep breath and opened his
eyes again , and his hand came out from under the covers, and began tracing
the pattern on his comforter. He glanced at his still patiently waiting
aunt, and looked away again. "Well, you just hear things, people say things,
you know, and it gets you to thinking ..." He closed his eyes again,
pissed that he had even brought the subject up.

Sara could see that something
was troubling Nelson, but he couldn't , as usual, get to the point. I'll
try and ease into this, give him the broad picture. "Well, I don't know
what exactly you're getting at, Nels, but ..." Sara stretched out farther
into the desk chair, and touched her feet to Nelson's, under the blanket. "I've
always heard, or known, or read ... that there's a line of thought that sexuality
is a very fluid thing. Not something that necessarily has to be a sure
thing, screwed down tight." She waggled her feet to have a connection
with Nelson. "I've always, pretty much ... no, not pretty much ... been a lesbian.
I've never slept with any men. I've never had the desire to do that." She stopped
a moment, considering. "When I was younger, I didn't like or accept people who
identified themselves as bisexual. It was against my politics ... you
know, I've felt that someone should stick to the 'party line'. Be a Democrat
or Republican, but don't confuse me with your Independent party." She
laughed, and continued. "But I've gotten older, and a lot wiser, and realize
that there are a lot of nice Independents out there, who really don't deserve
to have me judging them. I don't think it's a matter of them not being
able to, you know, make up their minds. In my mind, now, it's more of a matter
of them having the, I don't know, ability to see the best of both worlds, and
to be able to enjoy the best of both worlds."

She stopped there, waiting to
see if what she said would garner any response from Nelson.

Nelson fidgeted under the covers,
and brought his knees up under them. He looked at Sara, carefully
controlling any signs his face may be giving away. "So, you don't think
its a bad thing then?"

Sara was still confused, but
answered him truthfully. "No, I don't think it's a bad thing." She studied
his face, finding only sincere thoughtfulness in his eyes. "Why would you ask
that?"

Nelson shifted yet again under
the covers, and pushed the comforter off him. "Well, it's not like I've thought
about it much, but ... how could you ever trust anyone who was ... like that?"

Sara pondered the question for
a moment before replying. "Oh, you mean, if someone, say me, had a girlfriend
who was bisexual, how could I trust her not to be wanting to hook up with some
guy?" She waited a moment, and saw the affirming nod Nelson gave to her
statement. "Nelson, I think that there is a big misconception out there about
bisexuals being promiscuous. I don't see that as true, not in my experience.
To tell ya the truth, Nelson, I think I've been more promiscuous than
any bisexuals I've been involved with, or met. No, I think they have every
capacity to be monogamous, no matter which sex they're involved with at the
time."

She saw Nelson nodding along
in seeming understanding to what she was saying. "I think that everyone has
the opportunity to love and be loved. I don't doubt there might be a lot
of people out there who would disagree with me, for whatever reasons.
I think we all, gays, straights, and whomever in-between, have issues about
feeling insecure with who we are, and the ability of our loved ones to remain
faithful."

Nelson played with his fingers
a bit, interlacing them, and rubbing a thumb along a palm. He was trying
to decide if he wanted to ask her, point blank, about his recently acquired
doubts about Chloe. What with all the rumors flying, and the confidence
of his friends when they relayed their absolute certainty about her pregnancy,
he was just too apprehensive to want to upset his aunt with all of his confusion.
He decided to do what he always did, sit back and watch and listen, and watch
the adults around him deal with whatever the future held. He would keep
his mouth shut, and hope everything turned out alright.

"OK." he said, his tone signifying
that he seemed to be satisfied with what Sara had told him. He smiled
and stretched. " Thanks. I think I need some more juice, and to take some pills."
He rubbed his throat. "I'm probably not doing school tomorrow."

Sara got up from her chair, and
although the curiosity she felt about Nelson's sudden peculiar interest in bisexuality
was killing her, she decided to be prudent and let it go for now. He'll
ask me, I know, if there's more to it at some point. But wow, this is
just too ...

She straightened her sweatshirt,
and lifted a half smile. "Yeah, I figured you weren't going to school. That's
OK. Chloe is spending the night, and taking tomorrow off, too."
She headed to the doorway, and turned. "What a fun threesome we'll make."
She walked out of the room.

Threesome? Nelson
buried his head in his hands, trying to dispel the images from his earlier dream,
and the images that his aunt had just innocently planted in his fevered brain.
Oh my god. I 'm such a ... pervert. I'm never going to be able
to look Chloe in the eye again.